Bollards are only as strong as their foundations. We provide concrete bollard base construction in Perth, ensuring that every bollard, whether protecting a storefront, guiding traffic, or securing an area, is anchored in a solid, durable footing.
Our expertise covers installing bollard bases for steel, concrete, or plastic bollards of all sizes.
By using high-strength concrete and proper reinforcement, we make sure your bollards remain upright and secure even under collision or pressure.
From parking lot barriers to security bollards, our Perth team will deliver bases that meet local standards and give you confidence in the barrier’s performance.
When a bollard is impacted (for instance, by a vehicle), the forces are transferred down to its base. A poorly founded bollard might tilt, loosen, or be knocked out entirely upon impact. That’s why standards and councils specify minimum footing dimensions and concrete strength for bollard installations. For example, one WA council specifies a 300mm diameter, 600mm deep concrete footing (20 MPa concrete) for standard steel bollards. This ensures enough mass and embedment to resist typical knocks. Similarly, another guideline suggests around a 150mm radius (300mm diameter) footing, about 250-300mm deep for common parking bollards, and deeper for security-rated bollards (sometimes 600mm or more).
Our bollard bases in Perth are designed to these kinds of specifications or to any custom engineering needed. If a bollard is meant to stop a moving vehicle (high-security anti-ram bollards), the foundation will be much larger and possibly tied into a continuous footing with others. If it’s simply a boundary marker, the footing ensures stability but need not be extreme.
We also consider environmental factors: a bollard near coastal areas might have a concrete base with extra reinforcement to prevent rebar corrosion from salt (per AS 3600 durability provisions). Most bollards are outdoors, so the concrete and any steel must withstand weather and occasional soaking.
To install a bollard base, we generally follow these steps:
We core drill or dig a hole to the required diameter and depth at the bollard location. For retrofits in existing concrete or asphalt, a core drill is used to neatly cut a circular hole. In open ground, an auger can drill a round hole to spec. We ensure the bottom of the excavation is firm (compact any loose soil, or deepen to reach stable ground).
If the bollard has a flange plate that bolts to the ground, we’ll pour a footing flush with the ground and set anchor bolt cast-in sockets or heavy-duty chemset anchors after curing.
Many standard bollard footings are unreinforced mass concrete, especially small ones, relying on sheer concrete mass. However, adding a bit of rebar can greatly increase toughness. We often put a couple of N12 rebars vertically alongside the bollard and/or a stirrup of rebar around for larger footings. This is essential for security bollards where bending forces are high. Even some council specs mention reinforcement implicitly by referencing standards.
We pour high-quality concrete (minimum 25 MPa, often 32 MPa for traffic areas or structural needs). If in a tight core hole, we ensure the concrete flows well (using a slightly higher slump or a plasticizer for workability). We vibrate gently to eliminate air, being careful not to disturb bollard alignment. The top of the footing is usually brought flush with the surrounding surface (be it flush with pavement or slightly domed above ground in dirt areas to shed water).
The top of a bollard base is finished smooth and often brushed for slip resistance if exposed (in pedestrian areas). We ensure any slope for drainage if needed. We cure the concrete by covering it if the weather is hot, to prevent shrinkage cracks around the bollard pipe.
Setting the Bollard or Sleeve: Depending on the bollard type, sometimes the bollard itself is set in the concrete (cast in place), or a sleeve is set to later insert a removable bollard, or anchor bolts are cast in for bolting down a surface-mounted bollard after the base cures. We have experience with all types:
Once the concrete sets, if the bollard was cast in, we remove the braces and it’s ready. If it’s a sleeve, the bollard can be dropped in. If anchor bolts are used, we mount the bollard after achieving sufficient concrete strength.
While small pedestrian bollards might not have a formal structural design each time, for security bollards intended to stop vehicles, engineering is involved. We can work to specifications such as AS/NZS 3845 (Road safety barrier systems) as relevant, although that standard is more about barriers, it touches on crashworthiness, which can relate to bollard design. For known ratings (like PAS 68 or other anti-ram standards), we’ll construct accordingly; often, those require deep footings with heavy reinforcement or connecting multiple bollards with a footing beam.
However, the majority of Perth bollard installations we do are for parking lot protection, pathway delineation, or building frontage protection from accidental low-speed hits. Council references often require a bollard footing that’s roughly: diameter 300-450mm, depth 600mm in 20 MPa concrete. For example, the City of Karratha says “Concrete footing 300mm round and 20 MPa”, City of Wanneroo mentions 450mm (might be a typo or for larger bollards). We abide by whichever local requirement is higher, or if none are specified, we default to around 300mm dia x 600mm deep with 20-25 MPa concrete and a couple of rebars, a proven sturdy solution.
By building to or above these standards, our bollard bases ensure the bollard will yield only minimally if nudged by a car, and won’t be easily uprooted. The steel bollard or its mounting usually yields before our concrete base does.
We also consider drainage in the base if a sleeve is used, typically drilling a weep hole at the bottom of a sleeve so water doesn’t accumulate inside and rust the bollard.
We’ve constructed bollard bases for various projects:
One unique case is energy-absorbing bollards, which have cartridges in the base (like those used near building entries that collapse in a controlled fashion). We construct the concrete housings for those per the manufacturer’s specs (often a square footing with anchor bolts). Standard or not, we ensure precision in placement so the final bollards line up straight and to exact spacing (this matters for aesthetics and chaining between bollards, etc.).
Our knowledge of local conditions (Perth’s sandy soils make digging easy, but also not as much natural resistance, hence why decent footing size is important) ensures effective results. For example, in pure sand, we might bell the bottom of the footing out a bit or use a sonotube form above ground and let the bottom conical shape for more pull-out resistance.
Quality Assurance: We adhere to AS 3600 for concrete and reinforcement detailing. We ensure concrete is well cured, especially if it is in the hot sun, to avoid shrinkage gaps around the bollard. Water can get in and corrode or freeze (less of an issue here), but it’s a good practice to avoid. We also apply neat grouting around the base of cast-in bollards to seal the interface after curing, if needed, to prevent water ingress.
A well-built bollard base requires little maintenance. Over the years, if a bollard is hit, you might scratch the bollard or bend it, but the base should remain intact. We often get called to replace bollards, but find the old concrete footing is still solid. In such cases, we either remove it fully or, if allowed, we might core out the centre and re-use the footing (this depends on project specifics). Our bases are built to last as long as the surrounding pavement or structure does.
